Terry and I have a good friend who is a well-known author, speaker and world traveler. When asked how she manages her hectic schedule, she replies, “I just do the next thing in front of my face.”

Terry and I have added this phrase to our lives, especially when we look at our calendar for 2014. The year has already been full of adventures. Terry spent 20 days in West Africa shepherding a medical team as they set up and dismantled mobile clinics in remote communities. After saying goodbye to the dedicated doctors, pharmacists, nurses and volunteers, a team of contract landscapers arrived to provide clean water access that a Volta community lacked.

I’ve just arrived home from a week of training and equipping church planters in a rural and remote area of Ghana West Africa. The daily temperature in that region of the world hovered around 98 degrees. When I deplaned the airplane, I was met by the near-zero temperature of the American midwest. Nothing like a bit of climatic adjustment!

There is much that differs between here and there, but there’s no mistaking the Christmas frenzy is in full force. Trees decorated, lights on houses, snow on the ground are all very far from the dusty hot roads near Adidome. But the message of the good news is the same, isn’t it? Jesus arriving into our world with unexpected fanfare! The King of all kings stepped into our neighborhood at just the right time in the humblest of circumstances to draw near to those who were far off—with an announcement: Joy to the world!